Westpac’s Gail Kelly on why sponsors are important

Bottlenecks for women in middle management are still a reality despite more companies implementing diversity programs. It means women looking to reach the top echelons need to seek out sponsors, rather than just mentors, and keep pushing for workplace flexibility.

Much has been made of the importance of mentors, as someone to share frustrations, give advice and provide objective feedback. But Westpac director of women’s markets Larke Riemer says the sponsor relationship is the next step and for most people will prove more useful at pushing them up the rungs.

“A sponsor is someone who knows how good you are at your job. They are very aware of how you work and what your capabilities are. They’re the ones that when a job comes up, will put you forward".

Riemer, whose women’s markets’ division at Westpac sponsors the $15,000 prize for the board and management category of the 100 Women of Influence Awards, says there is a noticeable difference in the trajectory of women who have sponsors, not just mentors.

“At a certain stage when you want to get to those top levels you really need a sponsor. I can tell you most women at the top level have had good networks, mentors and sponsors."

Identifying someone in the organisation who has the power to put names forward, who is well-connected – and well-respected – is the first step to building a sponsor relationship.

In male-dominated industries, male sponsors are inevitably more likely. It means women need to learn how to network better with men to get themselves known, rather than tending towards the traditional networking style among groups of other women, Riemer says.

Fighting for the same staff

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Riemer says a lack of skills has been the catalyst for a growing trend among women to realise they need to “give back" and sponsor other talented women. This positive trend will lead to the creation of a larger internal female talent pipeline which provides an advantage in the growing war for talent. “We have such an ageing population. The fact is, when we all need good people we’re all fighting each other for the same staff," she says.

“The men say the women are doing fine here, and the women say ‘hang on, actually there are still lots of barriers, whether they are unrealised barriers or not deliberate barriers, but there are still difficulties’."

Kelly said when she joined Westpac her assumption was that the culture of the workplace was such that the diversity issue would sort itself out.

“In 2010, I realised that it wasn’t and it didn’t. Unless you actively nurture and actively drove a strategy and an agenda around diversity, it didn’t actively support itself."

Integral to that is designing work differently. How, where and when work gets done can and should be tailored around the individual, Kelly said. “You should design work around the vast majority of people who want to do the right thing, rather than design work around the tiny minority that might take advantage. Because that vast majority will sort out that tiny minority pretty damned quickly."

More than 42 per cent of Westpac’s leadership roles are held by women, and Kelly has set a target to have an equal 50-50 male-to-female split by the time the company turns 200 in 2017.

The Australian Financial Review and Westpac are proud to call for entries in the annual 100 Women of Influence Awards.